The Daimyo's Anniversary
by Fireblazezz
Summary: This is something totally random that I came up with :) Naruto and his friends are assigned to a somewhat different mission by the Daimyo... There's an original character as well, so if you dislike her, please don't comment that. Feel free to point out mistakes! :D


So, this is sometime during Shippuden, and if you'd like to know more about my original character that appears here, then please read "Yami and the Yorutsuki Clan" for personal information about her, or "Way of the Ninja – A New Companion" (ongoing story) if you'd like to know how she met Naruto and the others

The Lame Mission

* * *

Someone was knocking impatiently on the door.

Naruto groaned and turned around in his bed. Who the heck came for a visit at this time in the morning? What _was _the time anyway? He fumbled for the clock and pulled it towards himself: Nine am! For god's sake…!

He groaned and pulled the covers over himself. Like heck he was going up nine in the morning.

The knocking continued, if possible even louder.

"_Naruto!" _someone yelled from outside. "_Open the door!"_

Naruto covered his head with his pillow. It didn't matter who was standing outside, that person would have to wait.

"_NARUTO!"_

There was a loud bang and a crash that almost made Naruto jump out of his bed. He sat up, startled, and the next moment a furious Sakura was standing in the doorway to his room. She pointed a finger at him.

"Get _up!"_ she barked at him.

"S-Sakura-chan…!" Naruto sounded utterly shocked and slightly terrified. "H-how did you get in…?"

Sakura ignored him and strode to his bed, dragging him out of it.

"Come on, now, _get up!" _she said impatiently, and she strode back out of the bedroom and pulled the staggering Naruto along.

"But why do I have to go up...? It's only nine o'clock, it's too early!"

"If you think nine o'clock is _early _for a ninja, then you need to seek help." Sakura stated coolly.

"But—"

"Sakura!"

This time it was Yami who spoke, and she was looking around the corner of Naruto's living room. She waved awkwardly at Naruto when she saw him being dragged along after Sakura.

"Yami?" Naruto was even more confused now. _How did they get in?!_

"Sakura, I know we're in kind of a hurry, but you didn't have to break his door—"

"You _broke my door?!"_

"Yeah, but he wouldn't get up, and—ok, I'm sorry, Naruto!—and it's about time now, we're kind of late.." Sakura said.

"Late for _what?!"_

"Our _mission!"_

"We have a mission?"

Naruto started to wonder if he was still dreaming.

"I thought this was our day off!" he exclaimed.

"Well, apparently not." Sakura replied as they marched out of the door – or should they call it hole? – and to the street.

"So, what's this mission about…?" Naruto asked while rubbing his eyes, still drunk with sleep.

"We don't know." Yami answered.

"Tsunade-sama asked us to come over." Sakura said.

"Just now?"

"No, yesterday."

"Aha." Naruto finished with a yawn; he didn't really care about what they were going to do, because it would probably be something lame.

"You know we told you about this yesterday?" Yami asked.

"You did?"

"Yeah."

"Huh."

Silence. Naruto was thinking, trying to remember.

"Sorry, I've got no memory of that." He said after a while.

"Jeez, Naruto…" Sakura sighed as they rounded a corner.

Naruto was getting a little pumped up as they were closing in on the Kage's mansion.

"What do you think it's about?"

"What's about what?"

"The mission!"

"Oh…" Yami and Sakura gave it a thought. After a while they shook their heads and shrugged.

"No idea." Sakura said.

"But, I suppose we'll find out soon." Yami replied.

"Mmmh…" Naruto looked up into the sky. The clouds were sailing by calmly. One of them was shaped like a bunch of noodles.

"Hey, guys." Naruto said.

"Yeah?"

"Can we go eat some ramen after this mission?"

"Where did that come from?" Yami looked amused and Sakura rolled her eyes.

Naruto shrugged. "Dunno, just came to think about it…"

* * *

They knocked on the Hokage's door.

"Enter."

And they did. Inside, Sai, Ino, Shikamaru, Tenten, Neji and Lee were waiting.

"Yo, Granny! Everone!" Naruto greeted Tsunade and his friends happily with a grin.

"_Naruto. Manners!" _Sakura hissed in his ear.

"So you've come. Good." Tsunade replied approvingly. "So, why don't I tell you about the mission now."

"_Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES! _I mean, yes please." Naruto said excitedly, and he started jumping up and down.

"_Get a grip, she'll hit you." _Yami whispered as she leaned in to Naruto's ear.

"_I know, but I'm excited!" _Naruto whispered back.

"_Yes, I know that, but—"_

"So, what I want you to do is…." Tsunade began, clearing her throat, and everyone's attention was directed toward her. "Alright, maybe I should start with telling you about the Daimyo's anniversary first." She said and folded her fingers together at the desk.

Naruto raised an eyebrow as she said this. "Anniversary?"

"Yes, the Daimyo's fiftieth anniversary." Tsunade said. "He's celebrating that he's been serving as the Daimyo for fifty years." She explaimed when Naruto just looked even more confused.

"Oh!" Naruto said, nodding.

"And now he has asked Konoha to send shinobi to help him with the… arrangements." She finished.

Silence. It took them a while to take it in.

"Eh…? EEEHH?!" Naruto exclaimed. "You're sending us on a mission to help some old guy with _party arrangements?!"_

"It is fully necessary, since you've got all the time in the world right now." Tsunade stated. "Most of the other ninjas are on missions, including Chouji, Hinata, Kiba and Shino, so that's why I picked you guys. And you work very well together." She added.

"I see." Lee said and clenched his fists. "_Yosh!_ We'll give it our all to help with the arrangements and make the party a success!" he exclaimed, full of passion.

"_Noo, _Bushy Brows!" Naruto whined. "This is just some silly task that a five-year-old—"

"No, Naruto-kun!" Lee interrupted politely. "Tasks like this require patience and extraordinary skills with knotting and arranging! In other words – wisdom." He finished, closing his eyes in self-control. "We'll grow stronger mentally, while at the same time, we'll have to endure hard training when we lift all the party stuff!"

"… That's not really what it means…" Neji said quietly.

"I still don't wanna…" Naruto groaned.

"And, you'll probably be allowed to participate in the party and get free food as well." Tsunade said indifferently.

"OKAY! Let's go to the anniversary!" Naruto suddenly exclaimed happily, and was now dancing around on the floor with Lee.

"_Yosh, Naruto-kun! _The Power of Youth!" Lee shouted.

The others watched them, not really as enthusiastic.

"That was fast." Ino murmured.

"Well, you know Naruto and Lee…" Yami murmured back.

"Jeez…" Shikamaru sighed, looking troubled.

"Ok, I guess we have no choice…" Tenten shrugged. "And maybe it'll get fun."

"You never know." Sakura agreed before turning to Tsunade.

"We'll be going, then." She said.

Tsunade nodded.

"Good luck."

And everyone walked out of the room.

"This is going to be troublesome…" Shikamaru muttered quietly to himself as they walked towards the exit.

* * *

And a few hours later they arrived in the city where the Daimyo would be throwing the party.

"_Woow! _It's _huge!" _Naruto and Lee gasped in admiration.

And the city was huge, indeed. Everywhere people were storming around, shouting and giving orders, and shops and stores was opening, full of candies, clothes, party hats and all kinds of random stuff. It was like being in an amusement park.

"This is awesome." Naruto said.

That's when a person dressed in a black uniform called for them, about 20 meters away.

"He must be one of the servants of the Daimyo." Ino guessed, and they walked to him.

When they approached, he bowed deeply for like ten seconds, before they were able to observe his appearance. He was rather tall and thin, his face seemed outstretched and a little creepy, and his eyes were barely lines that were flashing across them with curious pupils. He also had very thick eyebrows and a big, bushy moustache that made the girls shiver. And his hair pointed upwards in a funny way, shaped like a flower of some sort.

"Look at the eyes." Tenten murmured.

"Look at the _moustache." _Naruto said in an amused tone.

"Look at his eyebrows." Yami murmured.

"Yeah, he looks like you, Lee." Neji pointed out.

Lee's eyes were sparkling with happiness and admiration.

"GooddaymynameisTanakaandI'mthegreatestservantever ." The odd man talked so fast that they were barely able to make out his words.

"… Eh… pardon me…?" Ino said.

"Hmmm… 'Fast-talker'…?" Sai suggested.

"Give it a rest, Sai." Sakura sighed, because she knew that Sai was trying to come up with a nickname for the servant. It did fit, though.

"AndyoumustbefineninjatheDaimyocalledfor." Mr. Tanaka said.

"Um… y-yeah, we're shinobi from Konoha." Sakura replied.

"Hey, how do you make your hair look like that?" Naruto interrupted curiously as he pointed at Mr. Tanaka's head.

"Naruto, that's rude—" Ino began, but Tanaka interrupted her.

"Yesmyhairissimplyawesomeandthat'swhyitwasshapedli kethatwhenIwasborn!" he explained proudly, and Lee took out his notebook and wrote down every single word.

"Butnevermind, youhaveallgotworktodorightnow!" Mr. Tanaka continued, and he threw a scroll to Yami.

She unfolded it, and to everyone's shock, a ten-meter long list appeared. They stared at it.

"ThisisshoppinglistandinstructionsfromDaimyo. Goodluckwithitandhurryup!" Mr. Tanaka explained and bowed once again.

"Uuhh… shopping… list…? Instructions…?" They looked at Mr. Tanaka in disbelief.

"Havefun!" he said with a grin and a third bow, and then he took off into the crowd.

They stood in silence for a while.

"So… should we begin…?" Yami suggested.

"Yeah, but we can't do all of this at once…" Sakura stated, pointing down at the extreme scroll lying on the ground.

"We'll split up into groups." Neji said.

"That's a good idea." Tenten said approvingly. "So, who's with who?"

"Shikamaru?" Neji said, and everyone turned and watched him.

Shikamaru sighed and scratched his head. "How troublesome…" he muttered, but he seemed to be thinking.

"Ok, I've got it." He said after a while. "Sakura, Ino and Tenten is group number one, and me and Sai is group number two, and Naruto, Yami, Lee and Neji is group number three, because Naruto and Lee needs at least one babysitter." Naruto gave him an evil glare before smiling pleasantly.

"Sounds great!" he laughed and threw his arms around Neji, Lee and Yami's shoulders. Neji looked away awkwardly, Lee happily threw his arms around his mates and Yami chuckled.

"But no ramen." She said.

"Oh…" Naruto's expression became depressed.

Tenten and Sakura picked up the scroll.

"Okay…" they said, examining it. "We can go and… 'Go shopping for giant cakes that are shaped like'" they hesitated. " 'Lovely pin-up ballerina girls'…?"

The girls faces turned red, and Sakura and Ino looked like they wanted to tear the scroll apart.

"I'd like to see a cake shaped like that…" Naruto said dreamily. Sakura punched him.

"_Ouch! _I was just kidding, Sakura-chan…!" Naruto groaned as he rubbed the place where she'd landed the hit.

"And me and Sai can go and put nameplates on the guests seats." Shikamaru continued indifferently.

"I can write down nicknames to them instead of their names…" Sai began.

"Okay, okay." Yami took the scroll from Sakura and Ino. "What do you wanna do, guys?"

She held out the scroll to Neji, Lee and Naruto.

Naruto's eyes shaped into those lines that made him look like a fox, and he examined it smartass-ly.

"That!" he exclaimed, pointing at the middle.

The others took a closer look, reading it out loud.

" 'Try the chocolate pudding'?"

Naruto nodded, and they shrugged. "Why not?"

"Ok, let's do it." Yami said.

"We'll keep the scroll." Ino said.

"Sure. See ya." Shikamaru said, and the three groups set off in different directions.


End file.
